


Monstrous

by Rulerofthecosmosandsnails



Series: Cursed Au [1]
Category: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cursed AU, Fluff and Angst, Identity Reveal of sorts?, the start of a bad joke, two idiots walk into a cursed corridor, “my best friend is a monster?? what???”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28930161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rulerofthecosmosandsnails/pseuds/Rulerofthecosmosandsnails
Summary: Upon revealing the staircase to the first vault, Kat and Rowan embark on their first proper “curse-breaking adventure”.They didn’t know it would end this badly.
Relationships: Rowan Khanna & Player Character
Series: Cursed Au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121819
Kudos: 3





	Monstrous

Kat stuck close to Rowan as they ascended the newly-revealed staircase, both out of necessity – the temperature dropped with every step they took – and her own crippling nervousness. Frigid fog lurked around their feet, thickening as they spiraled higher and higher; it felt like sacrilege to disturb it as they snuck up the long-abandoned flight. She buried this thought at the back of her mind where it wouldn’t bother her, and pressed even closer to Rowan, the hand wrapped around her wand not just quivering from the chill in the air.

After about a minute, when their legs were beginning to shake from the sheer number of steps they’d had to climb, the stairs leveled out and a large door came into view. It was so tall its wood nearly scraped the ceiling, it’s strength reinforced by metal strips that stretched across its length. The door’s hinges were nearly frozen over, presumably making it nearly impossible to move, were it not open in the first place. A gust of winter wind whistled through the gap, sending another round of shudders down both second-years’ spines.

Rowan glanced at her, and she sent an anxious, yet stubborn look back. “…Alright, let’s go.”

They stepped through the door and into the dim light of the mysterious corridor. The whole hallway was lit up with dark fire, casting an eerie glow along the frigid walls. Suits of armor flanked both sides of the hall, looking equal parts regal with their sharp swords and steady shields, and as if they would fall to pieces if Kat were to touch them. The oddest part about the room, however, was another large door at the end of the hall. It was even grander than the one they had slipped through and looked as if it was made entirely out of ice, judging by the way it glimmered with an almost ethereal glow. A large, jagged snowflake seemed to be cut out in the center of the door, beautiful, but deadly if any one of its jagged edges were to crack off and fall on them. Patches of the same cursed ice that Ben had been trapped in plagued the cracked stone floor, slowly encasing more and more of the ground as they progressed through the hallway. Despite this, she couldn’t help but gaze at the corridor with unmistakable awe.

“This place is incredible…” Kat murmured, stepping forward to illuminate a bit more of the room with her wand.

Rowan shivered harshly. “And c-c-c-cold… unnaturally c-cold. It feels like it’s already st-starting to slow down my mind and b-b-body…”

Though she wasn’t nearly as affected - Russian winters would do that to a person - Kat wrapped an arm around their waist, pressing their sides together as Rowan’s arm came up to wrap around her shoulders. It wasn’t much warmer, but it certainly felt better as they approached the ice door.

“This must lead to one of the cursed vaults,” Kat mumbled as they slid to a stop in front of the frozen steps leading up to the door. Eyes blazing, she looked to Rowan. “My brother could be in there.”

“Well, then l-let’s hurry and see what we can find.” They tucked their hands into their sleeves and hunched into themselves. “And c-come back later with a warmer c-coat…”

Climbing up the stairs when they were frozen over was immensely difficult, though mostly for Kat. Rowan seemed to only struggle a little, facing sideways and shuffling up the steps like a skier side-stepping up a mountain. Kat, on the other hand, had to resort to clambering up on all fours, her shoes slipping and sliding whenever she even dared put a foot down on the ice. By the time she joined them at the top of the stairs, her hands were nearly frostbitten and Rowan was just steps away from the door, supporting themself on the railing.

“It’s unbelievable…” Rowan whispered as Kat rubbed her bruised jaw.

She eyed the stalactites above them warily. “It’s gotta be a Cursed Vault, or at the very least, an entrance…”

“What should we do, Kat?”

“My brother could be trapped in there…” She brandished her wand, the light from the tip of it fading as she murmured the counter-spell. “Let’s try and open it.”

“No, wait, Kat.” Rowan held out an arm in front of her, brows knitted as they scrutinized the ornate door. “If we blast it open, then it might damage what’s inside. And that includes your brother.”

“…He would deserve it.”

“Yeah, he would, but forcibly breaking into the Vault could have consequences on the school.” They gestured around the room. “More ice, I guess.”

Reluctantly, she stowed her wand back into the depths of her robes. “That would be bad.”

“Plus, it’s fascinating…” Rowan took a wobbly step forward, eyes wide. “This is just like what I saw in my vision.”

“It is pretty cool…” Kat murmured, struggling not to slip back and fall down the stairs, again.

“Mhm… now if I could just figure out – “ Rowan’s mumbling was cut-off when they touched the door and gasped sharply. Kat scrambled over as their limbs stiffened up, noting how the warm skin of their face paled into a sudden sickly shade of white. Their eyes, though glazed over, were wider than galleons and seemed to be staring at nothing and everything at once. Though it lasted mere moments, Kat felt like hours had passed when their limbs finally relaxed and they yanked their frosted-over hand away from the wretched ice, panting like they’d just ran Madam Hooch’s patented “Big Lap” around the quidditch pitch.

“Rowan…?” Kat’s voice sounded tiny, even to herself, as she tentatively touched their arm. “Are you… okay?”

“Yeah, uh,” they swallowed thickly, “When I touched the door, I had another vision.”

She took their hand, trying to warm it up within her own as her resulting silence prompted them to continue.

“I saw… two rooms. One was dark and filled to the brim with books. The other was horribly cluttered, with the door outlined in chalk…” They giggled, a bit manically. Kat found herself joining in with a weak chuckle. “Not as frightening at my last one, thank Merlin. I think there was something else, but I couldn’t make it out… hold on…”

They pulled their hand away from her grasp and took a deep breath; Kat stepped back again, slipping a little as she did so. Laying their hand down on the door again, Rowan closed their eyes, the both of them waiting with bated breath. Seconds passed, with nothing happening but the faint drip-drop of an icicle on the ceiling. After another minute, they opened their eyes and huffed an unsatisfied sigh through their nose, turning towards her.

Kat wagered a guess. “Nothing?”

“Nothing.” They withdrew their hand, wiping the residual frost off on their robes. “Well, I suppose it’s not all bad, I mean it’s not clear but – “

The sudden crackling of the door interrupted them, and the both of them watched as the snowflake imprinted into the door began to sizzle and spit with magical energy. Before either of them could even think about doing anything, a burst of white lightning exploded from the ice and blasted Rowan backwards, lifting them off their feet and slamming their head on the ice at the bottom of the stairs with a sickening thunk.

“ROWAN!” Kat shrieked, ignoring the steady popping of the door and nearly tumbling down the stairs herself, skidding to a stop before them. They weren’t moving. She dropped to her knees, her breath hitching into a sob as hot, salty tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Her hands trembled, twitching this way and that, unsure of what to do first. Dimly, she was aware that she was hyperventilating, but ignored it in favor of lifting Rowan up off the ground and laying them on her lap, much gentler than her shaking hands would have suggested.

They could have sat there for seconds or hours, Kat wouldn’t have known, until Rowan inhaled harshly and their eyes fluttered open, upon which she let out a choked, yet relieved cry. She slumped over, leaning down and pressing her forehead into their chest, as if to soothe herself with the beat of their heart.

“…K-Kat?” Her head shot up at the sound of their weak, chattering voice, a new wave of tears threatening to make an appearance. “Are y-you… ok-kay?”

She let out a cracked, surprised laugh and coughed to try and get rid of the knot in her throat. It didn’t work. “Am – am I o-okay? Ro-wan, I-I thought you d-d-died!”

They looked at her weirdly, as if she’d sprouted a second head. “A-Are you sh-sh-sure…? Your fuh-face looks… a l-little…”

Frowning, Kat brought a hand up to her cheek. She felt the blood drain from her face as the tips of her fingers hit something wet and scratchy, then winced as she plucked some of the substance from her face. Her breath stuttered, though now due to something far different than the agonizing sadness from before as she examined the feather pinched between her fingers – no, no those were claws now. Examining her hand closer found more feathers creeping up on her skin in patches, and now that she was aware of them, she could feel them rubbing the wrong way underneath her shirt, scraping against her pants, and grating in her socks.

“K-Kat? Are you – “

“W-We need to get to the hospital wing. Right now.” Kat ignored Rowan’s mounting questions as she moved them off her lap and turned away, shifting into a crouch. “Get on my b-back.”

“Kat, s-seriously, I-I think – “

“ROWAN, PLEASE!”

She could practically taste their shock, bitter on the tip of her tongue, but in the moment it didn’t matter. 

“Please, Rowan.”

After a tense pause, she heard them shift behind her and they draped themself over her back, their weight scuffing against the rough feathers underneath her clothes. Hooking her talons underneath their knees, she ignored the prickling that had moved from her hands to up her arms and across her chest as she straightened up; Rowan crossed their arms over her neck to stay balanced.

Moving far faster than a distraught twelve-year-old carrying one-hundred pounds ought to, Kat dashed back through the chamber and nearly tripped down the stairs in her haste. Her gums were throbbing, jaw aching, teeth shifting to accommodate more and more and more -

Ugh, bit her tongue. Unpleasant at best, horrible when your new set of canines punctures a hole straight through. The blood that quickly filled her mouth was not helping the heavy desire to bite and rip and tear – no. No. Rowan needs help. She needs to get them to the hospital wing.

One foot in front of the other, she repeated the goal in her mind to keep herself sane as the hallways come in flashes and she seemed to move ten feet every time she blinked. Get Rowan to the hospital wing. Get Rowan to the hospital wing. Her breath rasped in her chest; she can feel her toes molding together in her sneakers.

Don’t pay attention to it. Get them to the hospital wing.

Turn a corner. Turn another. Feathers crawled up her throat.

Where is she going?

Hospital wing. Get friend to safety. Get friend to nest. Go. Go. Go.

Open door. Chemical smell. Healer-lady dropped something shiny. It broke.

Healer-lady rushed toward her and friend.

She tensed. Feathers fluffed up. Teeth bared.

Protect.

Everything fades.

\---

Kat awoke with straps tying her wrists and ankles to a lumpy surface and a thick piece of black cloth wound tightly across her eyes. She tugged at the straps, finding them loose, as if they were designed for something far bigger than her. Sliding her wrists out of the leather bindings, she sat up, head aching but coherent. Wincing as her sharp nails pricked her forehead, she grabbed her blindfold and pulled it down, unsurprised to see the dim setting of the hospital wing around her. Judging by how dark it was, it was about late-evening, which was a little disconcerting since she’d gone into the corridor a little while after lunch. Shaking her head, she pulled her feet free from their cuffs as Madam Pomfrey came bustling over, a stricter-than-usual look painting her face.

She avoided her stern gaze like the plague, staring at the dull marble floor and wishing it would just swallow her up already. Clenching her fists around the sheets, she braced herself for the worst. Detention? Suspension? Maybe even expulsion?

“Ms. Solokov – “ Kat flinched – “are you well?”

Her head shot up, a bit too quickly for her pounding head and she listed to the side. Pomfrey steadied her with a single hand as she gaped at her like a blubbering fish. “I – whuh?”

“I asked if you were alright, Ms. Solokov. From the way you’re swaying, I’m going to guess that’s a ‘no’.” She clicked her tongue disapprovingly and looked her up and down. “Though, you seem much better than you would be. You and Mx. Khanna were in a right state when you came in. Nearly tore apart my infirmary…”

There was time to pick apart that last statement, at least when she was stabler, but for now she fixated on one part of the problem. “Rowan! Are they okay?”

Pomfrey leveled her with a look. “No. And no thanks to your ‘adventures’, I might add. Did you really think it was a good idea to explore a restricted hallway?”

Kat opened her mouth, thought for a few seconds, and settled on an innocent, “No, Madam Pomfrey. Not a good idea at all.”

The nurse made a face that suggested that she thought she was a fat liar. She kept up her oh-so-innocent expression until the older woman sighed heavily. “You must stay in the infirmary until your head of house or one of your prefects comes to collect you. You may get up and walk around, just don’t bother any of my other patients, and don’t mess with the potions cupboard.”

Adopting an almost comically serious expression, Kat nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Pomfrey watched her for a moment, before she harrumphed and walked away, her heels clicking on the floor and towards her next patient. Kat would stick to the rules laid out, but bending one wouldn’t hurt.

Her knees trembled as she stood, her body feeling like it was made of pudding. And not even the good pudding – the bland vanilla kind that the house-elves only served to be nice. Still, her jelly-legs got the job done as she wandered up and down the row of beds, coming across an unfortunate student with angry boils sprouting up in patches all over his body and another older Hufflepuff who looked to be dealing with a two sets of antlers growing out of her back before she spied Rowan in a bed closer to the door. Kat picked up her pace with a stumble and a trip and nearly collided with their bed as she slid to a stop before them.

Righting herself with difficulty, she managed to plop herself onto the edge of their bed without jostling them. As she gazed at their sleeping form, the familiar crushing guilt and sadness from before came back, but they weren’t the all-consuming feelings that caused her to spiral. They merely weighed on her soul as she took their hand and, as softly as she could, intertwined their fingers. They shifted with a groan, inhaling sharply as Kat nearly jolted out of her skin at the unexpected movement. She nearly burst into tears again when they opened their eyes and looked at her, blinking sleep out of their eyes as their foggy look shifted into one of recognition.

“Kat…?”

Her voice cracked as she grinned at them through hazy tears that threatened to spill over. “R-Rowan…”

They propped themself up on their elbow, and she hurried to assist them as they sat up, fitting their head into the crook of her neck and letting their body melt into hers. Kat pressed her cheek into the top of their head to try and suppress the lump in her throat.

“Kat?” Rowan wasn’t looking at her, instead choosing to fiddle with the fingers of her free hand. “Kat, if you don’t mind me asking – “

She stiffened. Here it was.

“ – are you okay?”

She paused, her mouth itching to give an answer to a question that wasn’t asked. They could certainly have felt her breath stutter in her chest, and eventually pressed her lips into the crown of their head and mumbled, “…Why do you ask?”

“Come on.” Their voice was taking on a familiar ‘you-know-what-I’m-talking-about’ tone, a blessing and a curse for their housemate. “Kat… in the vault. What was that? Why did you…”

They left the rest of the question hanging, giving her time to finish it herself, finish it differently if she wished. She could ignore their implications entirely, but… she sighed, heavier than Pomfrey had minutes before.

“Um, Rowan?” The words felt like they were coagulating in her throat, choking her, and she coughed. “You – you know how last year, you, um, asked about the p-potion I took? Y-Yeah, um - ” her breath hitched as they squeezed her hand reassuringly – “ugh, okay. Alright. It’sacursesuppressant.”

“It’s a what?”

“Curse suppressant. To suppress the curse. That I have.” She felt her neck heat up and lightly knocked her head into the wall behind them. “Sorry, I just. ‘S hard.”

They nodded against her shoulder, their silence prompting her to continue. She inhaled with a shudder.

“I was cursed when I was… seven? Maybe? That’s what I heard from my mum. I don’t really… remember when I wasn’t cursed. It was a dark wizard. I dunno where he is now. Prolly dead. Hopefully dead.” Kat shook her head. “Anyways. Yeah, if I don’t take that potion every night, then I just… turn into that.”

They looked up from where they were tracing patterns into the palm of her hand, their gaze sharp despite their sorry state. “What exactly is that?”

“Uh… I heard from my mum that I’m a… clock-la-trice? A big snake-bird. I can paralyze you with my eyes. Don’t worry, I can’t do it now. I would have frozen Snyde stiff.” That garnered a small laugh out of them, and a smile of her own wormed onto her face. “Mhm. I would’a bitten her.”

“You already have.”

“Yeah, but like. Better. Besides, she bit me back.” Kat went quiet, and then, “You… don’t think I’m… d-dangerous, do you?”

“Kat, if you were dangerous, then I wouldn’t have let you hug me like this.” They frowned at the uncertain hum that rumbled through her throat and poked her belly with their finger. “Seriously. Like, the worst thing you did was hiss at Madam Pomfrey when she ran towards us. I think you thought she was a threat or something. I don’t blame you thought. From what I remember, she did look quite a bit terrifying.”

“I’m pretty sure she ended up tying me down to the bed.”

“Yeah, well, I remember that you kept thrashing around.” Their expression became thoughtful. “Come to think of it, is that why your ears are pointy? And your teeth are so sharp?”

“Huh – “

Their eyes widened. “Is that why you make a nest out of your bed?”

“Rowan – “

“Merlin, is that why you purr sometimes?” 

“ROWAN!”

They were properly howling now, leaning against her more to steady themself. Kat briefly entertained the prospect of getting up and letting them fall, but their laughter was contagious, and she soon found herself giggling along with them. At least, until Madam Pomfrey paused in front of their bed to give them both a sobering look. She raised an eyebrow at Kat and turned away, bustling back to another patient

“I think that’s my cue to go…” Kat extracted herself from Rowan’s side, but not before giving them one last squeeze. As she drew back, her good mood faltered. “Rowan… you seriously don’t think I’m… dangerous, right?”

“Of course not!” Their gaze was fiery and determined as they stared back at her. “You’re my friend Kat. Nothing will change that, not even a curse.”

She smiled at them, something relieved with a touch of sorrow. “Yeah. Yeah! Of course. I’m your friend too, Rowan, forever.”

“Forever.” They gave her hands a final squeeze, and sent her off with a, “Quick! Before Madam Pomfrey catches you again!”

Kat giggled as she wobbled back to her bed and collapsed in it. Now that that talk was finally over, she felt exhausted, emotionally and physically. Curling around her pillow, she snuggled down the best she could in the bumpy hospital bed and dozed off, her grim thoughts far behind her.

Until Flitwick came in the morning to collect her, that is.

**Author's Note:**

> The first (proper) installment of my cursed au! come tell at me on my tumblr if you have any questions, @struckbyelectriclove


End file.
